MAMEWorld Forums - The Loony Bin - Re: what's your take on the afterlife

> I used to think about things like this all the time. I was baptized Catholic, and
> raised for 9 years in a Lutheran school. I never could quite buy into the whole
> religion thing 100%. Years later I feel there could be some truth to some of it, in
> every religion out there.
>
> One thing I do know for certain, we don't see things as they really are. The whole
> "Image you are a 2D being in a 3D world" exercise really opened my eyes in that
> regard.
>
> One thing I don't know for certain, but strongly believe, is that your spirit DOES
> live on in some fashion. It could be a physical thing, or something as simple as
> other peoples brains wiring up a "remembrance" section of you due to the emotional
> trauma of loss.
>
> I've had 2 times in my life where I without doubt should have died. One was a 'near
> car accident' where I spun 5 times through 3 lanes of rush hour traffic on a wet
> roadway @ 65mph. I should have hit a dozen cars EASY. I spun from the far let lane,
> to the far right shoulder, untouched. A couple of drivers stopped afterward to see if
> I was OK, and one used the words, "I can't believe what I just saw. Someone was
> looking out for you on that one."
>
> He was right, IMO. I had a dream the night before, where I walked into my kitchen and
> saw a piece of paper on the counter. It was a death certificate with my name on it.
> As I looked up I filled with fear, and then I caught a glimpse of my great uncle who
> had passed 2 years earlier. The minute I saw him tears flowed so hard I had to look
> away. Each time I looked at him I was filled with what I can only describe as 'every
> emotion I have ever felt, all at once'. Looking away, I heard him speak. "I won't let
> this happen to you, it's not your time." I woke up soaked in tears.
>
> That alone would have been enough to carry me a lifetime of believing in a spiritual
> afterlife of some kind, but it happened again a few years later with a different
> situation. Same deal, with a warning the night before.
>
>
> I also just recently posted a story about being super late for work one morning, like
> something was keeping me from getting out the door until a certain time. I ended up
> helping out my brother that morning right when he needed someone most a few miles
> from anywhere I should have been that morning. It wasn't the most life changing
> moment, but enough to say it was a little more than chance that I was there.
>
> Call it the result of divine intervention, call it my brain interpreting a sense I
> don't understand. Call it the result of quantum spin, call it whatever you want. I
> call it a pretty good hunch that there is ~something~ beyond what we perceive.

i agree on there being something beyond what we perceive, even the idea of a unified consciousness can make sense, but what compelling evidence is there that we will be a part of it?

as for near-death incidents, i thought the same thing at first. that it was exceptional and proof... but the more you talk around and open up, you realize that many people, millions, have had the same experience. at what point does your experience become not un-common and simply just a part of living?

if you throw enough apples in a wood-chipper, some of them will come out unscathed. do you say it's a miracle, or a product of massive numbers versus chance? from the apple's perspective it's a lifetime experience, profound and thought provoking... from the guy operating the wood-chippper, it's "dang, there's another apple that made it through". silly analogy yes, but the concept is the same.

i'm not at all trying to poo-poo your parade, but this is the type of objective thinking i've somehow gotten myself into.

i learned everything i know from KC